I was in the military and it never happened to me, I recall some of the combat in black and white, though. But my whole life did not flash before my eyes, because I was trying to do my duty and stay alive. Thing slowed down for me quite a bit things happened in slow motion.

I wonder how near death their experience was? That can make a difference I suppose.

I was in the military and it never happened to me, I recall some of the combat in black and white, though. But my whole life did not flash before my eyes, because I was trying to do my duty and stay alive. Thing slowed down for me quite a bit things happened in slow motion.

I wonder how near death their experience was? That can make a difference I suppose.

Many thanks for the reply. It actually points to a flaw in the Huffington post article.

You see, the title of the academic paper is The life review experience: Qualitative and quantitative characteristics. I only have access to the abstract, not the full paper, but my impression is they mainly focus on how RLE is like, not advancing a claim about the % of ppl with an NDE having an LRE.

The title of the Huffington Post article is The life review experience: Qualitative and quantitative characteristics, which with hindsight is clickbait in so far as it implies that all ppl who experience an NDE, also experience an LRE. My bad, I should have been more careful when writing the OP.

One can clearly have an NDE without having an LRE. According to a Telegraph article on the same issue, >Previous studies have suggested that the phenomenon [=LRE] is more common among those with a high concentration of carbon dioxide in the breath and arteries following a cardiac arrest.>

Regarding your question >I wonder how near death their experience was>, all I can say by looking at the abstract is that they used >a questionnaire ran on 264 participants of diverse ages and backgrounds>. I suppose these 264 participants also had diverse experiences.

PS Good thing you survived and we have you with us now. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting this. There was a theory put forward years ago, (IIRC) that the life flashing before one's eyes phenomenon was the brain's attempt to mine its own experience to find a solution to its current conundrum. This could explain, evolutionarily, why memory shutting down last is advantageous.

Thanks for posting this. There was a theory put forward years ago, (IIRC) that the life flashing before one's eyes phenomenon was the brain's attempt to mine its own experience to find a solution to its current conundrum. This could explain, evolutionarily, why memory shutting down last is advantageous.

There was a brief discussion of this on the reddit post I linked above.

Things slow down as your mind is dealing with the situation you're facing. Some people are able to deal with these levels of stress better than others. That's one of the things they're looking for during Special Ops training. For example, the Seals have the water test and they time you to see how long before you start to shiver. Certain types of individuals are better mentally equipped to deal with that than others. These type of people usually shine during critical incidents and are usually found to serve in military, police, and other type of first responders, which correlates to one's autonomic nervous system and how one responds to a "fight or flight" situation.

Not sure about the whole "life flashing before your eyes" thing. That would be counterintuitive as your mind needs to zero in on the threat, rather than preoccupying itself with memories.

Things slow down as your mind is dealing with the situation you're facing. Some people are able to deal with these levels of stress better than others. That's one of the things they're looking for during Special Ops training. For example, the Seals have the water test and they time you to see how long before you start to shiver. Certain types of individuals are better mentally equipped to deal with that than others. These type of people usually shine during critical incidents and are usually found to serve in military, police, and other type of first responders, which correlates to one's autonomic nervous system and how one responds to a "fight or flight" situation.

Not sure about the whole "life flashing before your eyes" thing. That would be counterintuitive as your mind needs to zero in on the threat, rather than preoccupying itself with memories.

Thanks for the reply Eddie20.

I agree with the first paragraph. People working in certain professions have to be able to perform under stress.

I'm not sure I understand your point in the second paragraph, so do correct me if I got you wrong.

If what you are suggesting is that LRE does not happen, I disagree. There is at least enough evidence to suggest that it most probably happened to some people who have experienced NDEs (though clearly not all). I do not think this has much to do with a stress-coping mechanism. For instance the Huffington post article I quote in the OP mentions that

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The researchers suggested LRE may occur because certain parts of the brain that stores memories are among the last to shut down when the body is close to death.